Candles
by Davesmom
Summary: Draco and Ginny, a moment in their life after Beyond Redemption


            Disclaimer:  Dominick, Serena and Angelica are mine, all else is the property of JKR.    

            Note:  Sorry, still not more W&K, but I heard the song _'I Melt'_ by Rascal Flatts and this story just kind of jumped into my head.  Most of my inspiration for this story, however, goes to my loving and very sexy husband of 23 years.  BTW candles _do_ work. 

Draco closed the door behind him and quickly shrugged out of his cloak.

            "Virginia!  How are you feeling, love?" he called as he tossed the heavy garment over the arm of a chair and began unfastening his robes. 

            He'd been gone, on assignment for Gringotts, for almost a week but Virginia had stayed home this trip because she'd been feeling under the weather.  Since the team had acquired another healer (though she was nowhere near as talented as Virginia Malfoy!) it hadn't been a problem.  But Draco had missed her and wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her.  

            Draco slipped farther into the flat, noticing suddenly how dark and quiet it was. Hoping he hadn't awakened his wife if she'd been resting, Draco slipped off his shoes and robe and moved quietly toward their bedroom. 

            He stopped almost instantly when he saw a pale candle burning in a dish on the floor of the hallway.  His eyebrows rose and the barest of smiles tugged at his lips. Stepping closer, he detected the faint scent of lavender.

            Stifling a groan, Draco made his way into the hallway.  _Lavender_, he thought with a swallow.  He still couldn't smell lavender or taste fudge without remembering that time, when they were both in Hogwarts, that Virginia had stolen his heart even while she had kidnapped him and locked him up a tiny cell.  Either one triggered an immediate response in him, and now was no exception.  His entire body seemed to surge with desire.

            Tugging at the knitted pullover he'd worn under his robes, Draco continued toward the bedroom.  Another candle lit the dark hallway and this time Draco noted a hint of chocolate in the air.  Another surge of desire hit him as he dropped the pullover to the floor.  His hands went to his belt as he stepped across the threshold of their bedroom.

            He stopped once more, this time unable to stifle the groan that came from deep in his chest.  The room was lit with dozens of candles.  The soft glow cast the corners into shadows and made the room seem to dance with flickering light.  And there, on the bed, sat his wife.  

            Virginia Weasley had been a pretty girl, but she'd grown into a beautiful woman.  Draco drank in the sight of her now, sitting, kneeling really, in the center of the bed, her bright hair catching glimmers from the candles and her pale skin glowing.  She was wearing a silky wisp of a slip with tiny straps that seemed to mold itself to her body.  And, dear lord, that body!  It seemed they'd been married forever and that lovely body still made him catch his breath.  As he watched, she lifted a slender arm, beckoning him.

            "I've missed you," she breathed quietly, moving slowly to the edge of the bed.

            Draco was at her side in seconds, his hands buried in her short mop of hair, cradling her face and looking intently into her dark eyes.  

            "I've missed you, too, love," he whispered before pulling her face to his and capturing her lips in a deep, seeking kiss.  

            Some time later, the couple lay back in the bed, Ginny's head against his shoulder and Draco's arm wrapped tightly around her.  She traced tiny patterns on his chest while he tried to catch his breath.  He sometimes still couldn't believe that this beautiful, talented woman who had so much love to give was his.  It still hurt to think of how he had treated her during her sixth year at Hogwarts, and how, because of his actions, she'd never been able to finish school there.  Not that it had mattered.  She was so skilled a healer that she'd gone to the Hippocratic Institute and finished her schooling as well as becoming a master healer in an unprecedented three years.  And she'd somehow seen past the monster he'd been to her and had loved him anyway.  

            Shifting slightly, he looked more closely at his wife. 

            "You're wearing makeup," he said, surprised.  

            She seemed to blush, trying to look away.  Draco sat up and held her chin firmly in his fingers.  

            "Virginia Malfoy," he said.  "Why on earth are you wearing that stuff?"

            Not that he cared, but it was rather unusual for Virginia to wear it unless they were going out to a dinner or dressy function.  

            Ginny tugged her chin free and pushed herself up so she was sitting by her husband.  Draco couldn't help admiring her now-naked curves.  His hand reached out to trace the line of one full breast, but she caught it and pulled it to her face.  The rueful grin she gave him reminded Draco of something, but he couldn't quite place it.  Then she spoke.

            "I just wanted to look my best, you know?  I mean, I'm not getting any younger."

            "Are you out of your mind?" he demanded.  "You're beautiful, and you know it.  I have to stand guard around you whenever we're in public so some young Adonis doesn't steal you away!" he told her, gripping her shoulders firmly and giving her a little shake.  "I'm the one who's getting old!  It 's a good thing my hair's so light already so you can't see all the gray in it!"

            Ginny laughed and placed her hands on his chest, pushing him back into the mattress.  He grinned up at her, loving her always, but especially like this: loving and playful.  

            "You're not getting old, love," she insisted.  "In fact, I've seen the looks that new healer gives you!  She'd like nothing better than to get you alone and shag your brains out!  So I have to do whatever I can to remind you that _I'm_ the only one who has that right."

            She was holding him down firmly, but Draco could only concentrate on the beautiful sight she made with her full bosom hovering over his face, her eyes sparkling, and her lusciously curved hips brushing against his own.  In fact, even though they'd just made love, he could feel himself stirring again.  

            "Love, how can you say that when I have the most beautiful, loving, _sexy_ woman in the world right here?"

            He brushed his hand down, over her rounded abdomen, and downward.  Ginny sighed.  

            "Mmm, I love it when you touch me," she whispered.  

            She was just throwing her leg over his to straddle his body when a sudden jangle of bells made them both jump.

            "Who the hell could that be!" Draco demanded through clenched teeth. 

            "Oh, no!" Ginny cried, jumping off the bed.  "I forgot!  Dominick and Serena are bringing Angelica over!"

            Draco stared, disbelieving, into his wife's woeful face.

            "Tonight?  My first night home?"  

            Now he got awkwardly off the bed and reached for the trousers he'd discarded half an hour ago. 

            "I'm sorry!  We planned it before you told me when you'd be home!  I forgot all about it because I was so excited that you were coming home!"

            She looked so upset that Draco couldn't help grinning.  They had all night, after all.  Moving to her side, Draco wrapped his arms around her, holding her for a moment.

            The ringing of the bell brought them abruptly back to the present, and Draco released her to finish dressing.  Ginny ran around the room snuffing the candles and lighting the lamps.  As she pulled her robe on, she gave Draco a last, devastating smile. 

            "Later," she promised, as she hurried from the room. 

            Draco chuckled as he doused the two candles in the hallway and stuffed them into a cupboard.  He retrieved his pullover, donned it and his robe and joined his wife at the door.  As he lit the lamps in the sitting room with his wand, Virginia opened the door. 

            A young couple carrying a baby stood there, the smiles on their faces suddenly frozen in place.  Both Draco and Virginia seemed blissfully unaware that Virginia's blouse was inside out and that a trail of lipstick was smeared from Draco's mouth across his jaw and down his neck, to disappear under the collar of his knit pullover.

            It was a few hours later when the couple with the child left.  As they walked through the quiet, cloudy night, the young man, a redhead with gray eyes and thin, almost aristocratic features, grinned ruefully at his wife.  If Draco were watching, he would have recognized the rueful smile immediately.  It had been the one Virginia had worn earlier.  But Dominick, who didn't realize his smile was so like his mother's, shook his head at his wife.  Serena's black eyes were glittering with amusement, although only a ghost of a smile crossed her full lips.  

            "Good God," Dominick said now, taking the squirming infant from his wife's arms and slipping the little girl into a carrier strapped across his chest. "You'd think those two would act their ages!  I mean, it was obvious what they were doing!"

            Serena was slipping a knitted cap over their daughter's thatch of kinky reddish hair but she paused to eye her husband.  

            "What do you mean, 'act their age'?" she demanded suddenly.

            "Oh, c'mon, Rena.  They were practically all over each other.  It's just…you know, weird!"

            It was too dark for Dominick to read Serena's expression, but she fixed him with a look that should have frozen him to the spot anyway.  

            "Nicky, your folks are, what?  In their forties?  Would you rather they be like my folks?  Icy cold and ultra polite?  I get the chills every time I walk into their place.  And I'd bet they haven't touched each other since the day I was conceived!  I personally think it's reassuring that your folks are still mad about each other.  Besides," she said a little thoughtfully, "Are you saying that as soon as we reach forty you won't be interested in me anymore?"

            Dominick gave the pretty, dark-skinned woman beside him a look of astonishment which she didn't see.  She guessed, however, what his expression would be.  A second later, she felt his cool fingers slide across her cheek and nestle in the short curls at the nape of her neck.  

            "I will never lose interest in you, love," he assured her huskily  

            "Dominick," she whispered, tugging him the last inch before covering his mouth with hers.  

            A light dusting of snow began to fall as the two young people assured one another of their love.  The embrace might have lasted much longer if the tiny infant didn't take exception at being squeezed so ruthlessly between her parents.  At her sudden squeal of protest, the couple broke apart, laughing.  Serena pulled her husband's cloak tightly around the tiny bundle and fastened it, then both adults mounted their brooms and flew off into the snowy night. 


End file.
